The directions state that
Charley's World of Lost Art is near the only
Palm Trees alongside the road.
To the right of the Palms is
a large, open spot.
We walked into a multi-acre area with small stone structures.... mostly walls.
This area hasn't been looked
after for many years.
It's was a good thing that Charles Kaling chose to make art with rocks. It's a media that doesn't deteriorate, like wood or clay. After looking at the webpages Eric sent me, it's obvious that the walls bounded individual pieces of art that are no longer here. They were described as bas relief artwork and miniature villages.
This could be the frame for his
last work or whatever was in
the middle is gone.
I assume that unique pieces started to disappear without a group of preservationists overseeing the installation area. How many people own original pieces of Charles Kasling art and display them in their homes and yards? I'll never know.
I wonder if a visitor left
the seashells.
This egg-shaped art piece
looks like...
... it flows into a larger
oval made of different
stones.
The tall rock has a smooth
cut face.
I wonder what types of
tools were used here.
Rock walls curve...
I wonder if the fireplace was
built by Charles.
This separate work area
leaves me with questions.
Was this a workshop for
intricate stonework OR
was this an outdoor
kitchen?
Eric takes in the scene.
Stones surround a bush.
I wonder what piece of
art once stook here.
This stone wall goes on & on...
Besides being a place to put the rocks cleared from farm fields, rock walls were used as property lines.
Eric and I heard a dog bark & looked down an embankment and saw a campsite. It sits behind the brush that lines the dirt road and we missed its driveway while we were looking for the Palm Trees.
Mary Joe welcomes us &
tells us what she knows
about the artwork.
Tribe to camp here.
Charles lived and worked on the property. He built a stone house which is very hard to get to because of decades of desert plant growth. His grave is nearby.
We never would have found
the grave without Mary Jo.
Eric stomped on encroaching plants to clear a space so we could read the marker and take pictures.
The names don't match.
I wonder if Charles Kasling
was known locally as
Charles Weed.
The birth and death dates don't match the webpage Eric sent me.... Charles Kasling, 1901 - 1985. Charles Weed, November 18, 1910 - August 19, 1980.
Was there a different man named Charles Weed who created artwork that has been removed?
Was this Charley the man who lived in the stone house, or did he live nearby?
Did Charles Weed know Charles Kasling?
Was the gravestone installed many years after Charles Kasling died and the information listed is wrong?
With just two sources of information on Charley's World of Lost Art, there's no way to tease out the answer.
